The present invention relates to beverage containers, and, more particularly, to a two-layered hat wherein the layers create a cavity for storing a beverage.
The present invention advantageously combines the functions of the hat and a beverage container. In the past, various constructions have been proposed for providing storage compartments in hats to accommodate small accessories usable in sports or specialized types of work. Other hats have been proposed which include fluid filled cavities adapted to serve as a liquid coolant for cooling the head and neck of the wearer. However, though such constructions may be effective for their intended purpose, they fail to provide the hat having an integral fluid cavity adapted to store and dispense a beverage for drinking.
By combining the functions of a beverage container in the hat, the wearer need not use his hands to hold the beverage. That freedom is of substantial, practical significance in various circumstances. For example, a wearer attending a sporting event or other public function, where seating and arm space are restricted, can use his hands to carry food or dispense condiments without having to balance a beverage container in a precarious position.
Also, a reader can use his hands to flip the pages of a book without having to pick up and put down the beverage container.
The invention is believed to have further advantageous application in connection with various other activities such as rafting, cycling or operating a riding mower. In addition, it is anticipated that the present invention may have significant application for handicapped individuals who might otherwise have difficulty consuming a beverage.
More recently, constructions have been proposed wherein one or more can holders are attached to a rigid plastic helmet with tubing inserted into each can. Dispensation for such construction occurs when the user sucks on the opposing end of the tubing. Such a construction suffers in various practical, as well as aesthetic regards. For example, such can holders, similar to can holders used in automobiles, do not provide any means for keeping the beverage cool as the wearer sits exposed to the sun. Additionally, such constructions require tubing leading to each separate can and a way of regulating the flow of fluid from each of the cans, with suction needed to dispense the beverage. Furthermore, only a limited degree of head movement is permitted by such devices before the cans spill their contents onto the wearer or the surrounding area. Besides these and other practical disadvantages of such can holder and helmet constructions, it is anticipated that, for personal or aesthetic reasons, many individuals do not wish to attract attention by packing bottles or cans on their heads.
Accordingly, though various individual features of the present invention have been generally utilized in prior constructions, those constructions have failed to provide a practical, beverage dispensing device having the functional and aesthetic qualities of the present invention.